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re: 150 years ago this day...
Posted on 1/6/14 at 7:53 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Posted on 1/6/14 at 7:53 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Thursday, 7 January 1864
Yesterday, Confederate President Jefferson Davis had commuted the death sentence of a young private from Virginia. Today, although he could not have known of Davis’ gesture, Union President Abraham Lincoln also set aside the ruling of a court-martial that a deserter be put to death, as military regulations prescribed. When asked for a reason, he could only reply wearily “...because I am trying to evade the butchering business lately.” Under the regulations, all court-martial sentences of death had to be reviewed by the Commander in Chief, and Lincoln was notorious for commuting death sentences to terms of imprisonment, particularly in cases of desertion, most particularly if the offender was young. This infuriated many of Lincoln’s generals, who felt that the gesture undermined disciplinary efforts.
Following reports from an informant, Rear Admiral John Adolphus Bernard Dahlgren ordered all ships of the Charleston blockading force to take stringent precautions against attack by Southern torpedo boats, and noted: "There is also one of another kind, which is nearly submerged and can be entirely so. It is intended to go under the bottoms of vessels and there to operate." Regarding the submarine H.L. Hunley, he warned: "It is also advisable not to anchor in the deepest part of the channel, for by not leaving much space between the bottom of the vessel and the bottom of the channel it will be impossible for the diving torpedo to operate except on the sides, and there will be less difficulty in raising a vessel if sunk."
Major General Benjamin F. "Spoons" Butler's plan to send the Army steamer Brewster, Ensign Arnold Harris, Jr., into Wilmington harbor under the guise of a blockade runner "...for the purpose of making an attempt upon the shipping and blockade runners in the harbor..." was abandoned upon learning of the Confederates' protective precautions. Brigadier General Charles K. Graham reported to Rear Admiral Samuel Phillips Lee that while it might be possible to run past Forts Caswell and Fisher under the proposed ruse, it would be frustrated by the chain that stretched across the channel at Fort Lee; all blockade runners were required to come to at that point until permission for their further advance was received from Wilmington. Under these circumstances, Graham concluded, "...it would be madness to make the attempt."
The USS Montgomery, Lieutenant Edward H. Faucon, and the USS Aries, Lieutenant Edward F. Devens, chased the blockade runner Dare. The steamer, finding escape impossible, was beached at North Inlet, South Carolina, and was abandoned by her crew. Boat crews from both Montgomery and Aries boarded but, failing to refloat the prize, set her afire.
The USS San Jacinto, Lieutenant Commander Ralph Chandler, captured the schooner Roebuck at sea, bound from Havana for Mobile.
Madisonville, Louisiana, was entered and occupied by the Federal forces.
Twenty shells were thrown into the city of Charleston, South Carolina, from the National batteries under the command of General Quincy Adams Gillmore.
Caleb B. Smith, Judge of the United States Court for the District of Indiana, and late Secretary of the Interior, died suddenly at Indianapolis.
The Confederate schooner John Scott, while attempting to run the blockade from the harbor of Mobile, Alabama, was captured by the Union gunboat USS Kennebec.
Yesterday, Confederate President Jefferson Davis had commuted the death sentence of a young private from Virginia. Today, although he could not have known of Davis’ gesture, Union President Abraham Lincoln also set aside the ruling of a court-martial that a deserter be put to death, as military regulations prescribed. When asked for a reason, he could only reply wearily “...because I am trying to evade the butchering business lately.” Under the regulations, all court-martial sentences of death had to be reviewed by the Commander in Chief, and Lincoln was notorious for commuting death sentences to terms of imprisonment, particularly in cases of desertion, most particularly if the offender was young. This infuriated many of Lincoln’s generals, who felt that the gesture undermined disciplinary efforts.
Following reports from an informant, Rear Admiral John Adolphus Bernard Dahlgren ordered all ships of the Charleston blockading force to take stringent precautions against attack by Southern torpedo boats, and noted: "There is also one of another kind, which is nearly submerged and can be entirely so. It is intended to go under the bottoms of vessels and there to operate." Regarding the submarine H.L. Hunley, he warned: "It is also advisable not to anchor in the deepest part of the channel, for by not leaving much space between the bottom of the vessel and the bottom of the channel it will be impossible for the diving torpedo to operate except on the sides, and there will be less difficulty in raising a vessel if sunk."
Major General Benjamin F. "Spoons" Butler's plan to send the Army steamer Brewster, Ensign Arnold Harris, Jr., into Wilmington harbor under the guise of a blockade runner "...for the purpose of making an attempt upon the shipping and blockade runners in the harbor..." was abandoned upon learning of the Confederates' protective precautions. Brigadier General Charles K. Graham reported to Rear Admiral Samuel Phillips Lee that while it might be possible to run past Forts Caswell and Fisher under the proposed ruse, it would be frustrated by the chain that stretched across the channel at Fort Lee; all blockade runners were required to come to at that point until permission for their further advance was received from Wilmington. Under these circumstances, Graham concluded, "...it would be madness to make the attempt."
The USS Montgomery, Lieutenant Edward H. Faucon, and the USS Aries, Lieutenant Edward F. Devens, chased the blockade runner Dare. The steamer, finding escape impossible, was beached at North Inlet, South Carolina, and was abandoned by her crew. Boat crews from both Montgomery and Aries boarded but, failing to refloat the prize, set her afire.
The USS San Jacinto, Lieutenant Commander Ralph Chandler, captured the schooner Roebuck at sea, bound from Havana for Mobile.
Madisonville, Louisiana, was entered and occupied by the Federal forces.
Twenty shells were thrown into the city of Charleston, South Carolina, from the National batteries under the command of General Quincy Adams Gillmore.
Caleb B. Smith, Judge of the United States Court for the District of Indiana, and late Secretary of the Interior, died suddenly at Indianapolis.
The Confederate schooner John Scott, while attempting to run the blockade from the harbor of Mobile, Alabama, was captured by the Union gunboat USS Kennebec.
1
Posted on 1/7/14 at 8:17 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Friday, 8 January 1864
While there were many changes and innovations in warfare during the War for Southern Independence, one item remained as it has always been: there was little to no mercy given to captured spies. One such, a purported Confederate agent named David O. Dodd, paid the ultimate price for his activities today, after a trial which caused considerable uproar in the Western area, although it was little covered in the Eastern press, even though he was only 17 years of age at the time. Captured in Little Rock, Arkansas, and also tried there, he was this afternoon hanged there, in front of St. John's College. All over the western area changes were coming rapidly. A meeting was held in New Orleans of Union sympathizers, to organize reconstruction efforts.
Captain Raphael Semmes, commanding the CSS Alabama, noted in his journal that he had identified himself to an English bark as the USS Dacotah in search of the raider Alabama. The bark's master replied: "It won't do; the Alabama is a bigger ship than you, and they say she is iron plated besides." Had Semmes' ship been armored in fact, the outcome of his battle with USS Kearsarge six months later might have been different.
The USS Kennebec, Lieutenant Commander William P. McCann, chased the blockade runner John Scott off Mobile for some eight hours and captured her with a cargo of cotton and turpentine. John Scott's pilot, William Norval, well known for his professional skill and for aiding the blockade runners, was sent by Commodore Henry K. Thatcher to New Orleans, where he was imprisoned.
General John Hunt Morgan held a reception at Richmond, Virginia. Judge Moore, of Kentucky, in a speech on the occasion, spoke of the worth of General Morgan, and the great credit with which he had served his country. He was now receiving the grateful testimony of the Mother of States. He said that "...Morgan and other Kentuckians who were battling for the liberties of the South, would not sheathe their swords until her liberty was achieved. Despite the thraldom in which Kentucky was held, the muster rolls of the army showed that forty-nine thousand of her sons had joined their fortunes with ours, and this, despite the fact that the heel of the tyrant was on her neck. He knew the sentiment of the people there — they would be found with the South. The Yankees have desolated her homes and murdered her people. Kentucky never will join her fortunes with the Northern Government.”
The Confederate blockade-runner Dare, while attempting to slip into the harbor of Wilmington, North Carolina, was chased ashore and destroyed.
While there were many changes and innovations in warfare during the War for Southern Independence, one item remained as it has always been: there was little to no mercy given to captured spies. One such, a purported Confederate agent named David O. Dodd, paid the ultimate price for his activities today, after a trial which caused considerable uproar in the Western area, although it was little covered in the Eastern press, even though he was only 17 years of age at the time. Captured in Little Rock, Arkansas, and also tried there, he was this afternoon hanged there, in front of St. John's College. All over the western area changes were coming rapidly. A meeting was held in New Orleans of Union sympathizers, to organize reconstruction efforts.
Captain Raphael Semmes, commanding the CSS Alabama, noted in his journal that he had identified himself to an English bark as the USS Dacotah in search of the raider Alabama. The bark's master replied: "It won't do; the Alabama is a bigger ship than you, and they say she is iron plated besides." Had Semmes' ship been armored in fact, the outcome of his battle with USS Kearsarge six months later might have been different.
The USS Kennebec, Lieutenant Commander William P. McCann, chased the blockade runner John Scott off Mobile for some eight hours and captured her with a cargo of cotton and turpentine. John Scott's pilot, William Norval, well known for his professional skill and for aiding the blockade runners, was sent by Commodore Henry K. Thatcher to New Orleans, where he was imprisoned.
General John Hunt Morgan held a reception at Richmond, Virginia. Judge Moore, of Kentucky, in a speech on the occasion, spoke of the worth of General Morgan, and the great credit with which he had served his country. He was now receiving the grateful testimony of the Mother of States. He said that "...Morgan and other Kentuckians who were battling for the liberties of the South, would not sheathe their swords until her liberty was achieved. Despite the thraldom in which Kentucky was held, the muster rolls of the army showed that forty-nine thousand of her sons had joined their fortunes with ours, and this, despite the fact that the heel of the tyrant was on her neck. He knew the sentiment of the people there — they would be found with the South. The Yankees have desolated her homes and murdered her people. Kentucky never will join her fortunes with the Northern Government.”
The Confederate blockade-runner Dare, while attempting to slip into the harbor of Wilmington, North Carolina, was chased ashore and destroyed.
This post was edited on 1/8/14 at 9:09 am
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